KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 — Malaysia reported 1,529 new Covid-19 cases today, the lowest the number has been this year and continuing a downward trend in infection rates since the government lifted the movement control order for all remaining states last week.

According to his post on Twitter, Health director-general Tan Sri Noor Hisham Abdullah revealed that Selangor took the top spot with 726 new cases.

This was followed by Sarawak (252 cases), Johor (120 cases), Negri Sembilan (89 cases) and Penang (76 cases).

"For today, the number of active cases is fewer than 20,000. The total number of cases for today is the lowest recorded for 2021. It is with hope that the downward trend will continue further,” he said.

Today’s daily tally was a further reduction of 154 cases after Malaysia hit 1,683 cases yesterday, dipping below the 2,000-case mark for the third day in a row. Dr Noor Hisham said 2,076 more people were recorded to have recovered today, with active cases now at 19,778.

"Of the total, 160 Covid-19 patients are being warded in intensive care units (ICUs) across the country, with 79 of them needing breathing assistance,” he said.

Nine cases recorded today were imported, while the remaining were local transmissions.

Another eight individuals have died from Covid-19, raising the country’s death toll from the disease to 1,177.

Dr Noor Hisham also said four new clusters were recorded, with two in Johor and one each in Kuala Lumpur and Terengganu.

All but one of these clusters are work-place related while one was from within the community.

In total, 467 clusters are still active out of the 1,203 clusters detected here since the arrival of the virus.

Malaysia has recorded 314,689 cumulative Covid-19 cases to date.

Separately, Dr Noor Hisham reminded general practitioners (GPs) in the private healthcare sector to register their interest with Protect Health Sdn Bhd starting today if they were interested to be part of the national immunisation programme for phases two and three.

Earlier, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba announced that private GPs would be managed by Protect Health, an incorporated entity formed under the Ministry of Health.